Yeomans: “Sessions, Trump, Robert Jackson, Truth, and the Rule of Law”
Washington, D.C., November 17, 2017 – In the latest edition of Yeomans Work, “Sessions, Trump, Robert Jackson, Truth, and the Rule of Law,” AFJ’s Ronald Goldfarb Fellow for Justice, Bill Yeomans, looks at Attorney General Jeff Sessions’s “total blackout on all things Russian,” and his uncertain future as Attorney General.
According to Yeomans, there are three major questions regarding the Attorney General:
1. Does the Attorney General understand what a lie is? “Sessions flaunted a severe case of testimonial amnesia throughout the hearing, particularly when asked about Russia. It is understandable that busy people occasionally forget things. And, experience teaches that memory gaps sometimes expand with age. But Sessions’s total blackout on all things Russian is striking,” writes Yeomans.
2. Will Sessions yield to pressure from President Trump and the tin foil helmet caucus of the Republican Party to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate Hillary Clinton? While Sessions has given the impression that he isn’t going anywhere, “he needs to do much more. He must speak out about the independence of the Department of Justice and the need to base prosecutorial judgments on law and facts without consideration of politics or personal favor.”
3. Will Sessions remain as Attorney General? With the Republican establishment withdrawing support from Roy Moore, “Mitch McConnell and unidentified White House sources floated the notion that Republicans needed a strong, well-known and well-liked write-in candidate – none other than Jeff Sessions,” writes Yeomans. “Sessions has alienated his boss, who is livid over Sessions’s decision to recuse himself from the Russia investigation, rather than corrupt justice by protecting Trump from investigation. He is under pressure from Republican caucus members who take their lead from Trump and want to deflect the Russia investigation onto Hillary Clinton,” adds Yeomans. “The only sticking point is Jeff Sessions, who seems genuinely infatuated with being Attorney General.”
Most importantly, Sessions “needs to speak out about the majesty” of the Attorney General position and “its crucial role in protecting the rule of law,” writes Yeomans.
Yeomans Work focuses on the challenges to the justice system in the era of Trump. Bill Yeomans is available for media interviews. Contact Laurie Kinney, Communications Director, at laurie@afj.org or 202-464-7367.